AGRORB

I have touched this car in dirty places.

A year without an update! Sorted now, she's all go!

Et part deux...

Day two. Steering column disconnected. LEFT HOOK HOMUHGAWD:

The next step was to start removing the subframe and steering rack, which is about 12 bolts/nuts all up. Josh got to work around the engine bay while I dealt with the 4 subframe bolts under the floor and the steering rack nuts:

Two on each side, the underfloor subframe bolts sit just below these, again, two on each side. There are two above the suspension turrets on each side:

And two in each of the holes in the front valance, one of mine however, was missing 

Then, we dropped the whole lot out. A little persuasion with a rubber mallet helped break it away from the body. It was simply a case of lower the jack and wheel the subframe complete with suspension out from under the car.

Ezpz. Steering rack was even easier, tap the 2 u-bolts out and out she falls:

The next step can be a right pain with most Minis, refitting the rack, as the U-bolts have to pass through a plate in the engine bay as well as the floor pan, and the holes dont always line up, mine however, went in relatively trouble free, much to the disgust of Josh 

ITS SO NEW. Oh, while I was under there I wire brushed all the surface rust and attacked it with etch primer, this will be re-done in satin black:

I removed the castor rods and that was enough for one day, it was time for a beer.

Fast forward to today, Sunday, 10th January. About to go grab some satin black paint and get the hubs fully dismantled. Will also be degreasing and repainting the subframe today and if time allows, reassembling the hubs, relining the brakes, fitting the new drums and getting the subframe back in. Exciting...

And that was that. Along with the steering rack, inner CV's and new front brake hoses, here's the other bits I also have in storage:

Genuine Superfin drums for the front, genuine Rover Timken front wheel bearings, NSK heavy duty rear wheel bearings, urethane/rubber castor rod bushes, full ball joint set, new drum retaining screws, Cooper S studs and new grease nipples. The carb rebuild kit is obviously in the carb already (y) Can't wait to get everything fitted, work out why my RH dip beam keeps blowing and finally go for a WOF

Holy shit its been a while since this has had an update! Basically, over the last year and a bit, i've been stockpiling parts, and the car has sat for most of that time too. The motor was knackered, the wheel bearings and balljoints were shot, the steering rack had play, the brakes were in need of an overhaul, the suspension bushes were worn, it just needed a bloody good birthday. And a WOF. And a serious injection of cash. So I parked it up and tootled around in 2 quite boring daily drivers, a Honda Shuttle and lately, a Caldina CZ... Until the beginning of last week, which, with the help of Mini.Mad (cheers Josh), we got stuck in with the storage unit full of brand new goodies I've bought for the car. Before all that though, the carburetor was rebuilt by Glenn Lawrence at Eclipse engineering with new throttle shaft bushes, a new throttle plate, linkages, the works, it actually works properly again! I've also sourced a few goodies from Japan, the first being a set of Group 2 flares with chrome trims and set of late model Cooper 1.3i door  and rear trims, those haven't arrived yet though We did however, mock the flares up, fuck yes we did.

These will be refinished in a nice gloss black eventually, unfortunately the Old English White just looks like gelcoat against the blue. We then got onto more pressing matters, the following is copied from another forum i'm on...

What a massive week its been for the old girl, now sitting in pieces ready for reassembly  The story pans out something like this:

I showed up from work on Monday to my mate Josh (minimad for you OS members) dismantling the front end of the car. Grille off, bonnet off, manifolds off, engine ancillaries off, wiring disconnected and part way through dropping the exhaust. Without further adieu and a bad back I got stuck in myself:

Wheels off first, as the hubs were to be removed. I'll be glad to see the back of those ugly rusty drums:

Next up, smack the ball joints free. The passenger side was easy, the drivers side proved to be a right cunt though:

As we got frustrated with the drivers side ball joints we decided to come back to it and press on with other things, like dropping the shift linkage out. What a nightmare, as the roll pins had seized inside the connecting sleeve, at least the stabiliser rod was easy. A couple of different punches, awkward swinging with a hammer and lots of swearing later we had it out. The gear lever has to be in the reverse position to allow access to the two roll pins:

Poos photo but the little nub sticking out the back of the gearbox next to the diff housing is the selector input:

Once that was done we removed the  broken drive couplings (inboard cross joints). This was made difficult as the broken knuckles were preventing the axles from being spun fully to allow it to be removed, we got there though. 

After that, the exhaust was removed entirely, the engine mounts were undone, and the engine was ready for removal. We sat the hubs loosely back in the suspension arms and refitted the wheels to make this a little bit safer, as we didn't trust the jack stands:

Going up: 

Aaaaand shes out 

Great success. It's still full of oil and water, so we'll deal with that at some stage, other than that this is very much ready for scrap:

Finally it was a case of smack the tie rods out of the hub carriers, removing the axles and withrdawing the hubs. Pretty easy.

We decided to call it a day and pack up after that.

Updates done

Mate that is excellent

Just awaiting extended studs for the rear and she's all go

Looking good man. I'm damn impressed with ya valve cover paintwork... Looks professional as!

Easier than grease may nave been just running a file over top of fins when paint dries?

Cheers man! I was impressed with it myself haha especially for rattle cans...

I've tried this with more intricate jobs in the past and it's done more harm than good, reason I went for grease is that there's no risk to the underlying alloy  

Bit more progress now

Got some tires down from Auckland and fitted up, decided to paint my lettering, such a fiddly, time consuming exercise zzzzz

It snowed down here recently too, so I went out to play up Mount Cargill Road

Been having some issues with the car losing coolant, and hissing through the overflow when turned off, I've put it down to head gasket, so I brought in a genuine MG/Rover gasket set with copper gasket from the UK, as well as some ARP head studs, a new throttle cable and speedo cable:

Just need to find time to do it now. Sold my GripRoyal steering wheel to another OldSchool member, as it's just not gonna tie in with the future plans I have for my interior. In the meantime, I bought this sweet Autotechnica woodgrain wheel off a mate in Gizzy for an absolute steal, matches my hand brake and gearknob quite nicely

Mounted the standard Clubman wheel plaque inside the bosskit too

Bought some Cooper S rear drums to allow me to fit my wheels, as well as brand new retaining screws, just need studs now

Currently bidding on a set of extractors on tm, hoping they'll give some life back to the tired little 998 until I can find something with a bit more grunt  

Avoid chinese shit at all costs.

Why not buy a 25DET turbo and give it the Steve Murch/MSE treatment? Brand new Holset core machined into standard housings...

Still having issues with the Mini unfortunately

Tires sorted! Coming next week Had another early day today so I came home and pissed around with the car for a bit. Copied from another forum, here's what I did today:

LOLSPAMSPAMSPAM 

Anyhoo, today was a good day. I fitted two new door seals, so I don't get wet when it's raining and so that if I accidentally a lake, I'll die later. Win-win really.

Also decided I'd had enough of the tappet cover going dull and needing polished to remove fingerprints and general grubbiness all the time, so I painted it.

Paint:

Been a long time fan of this stuff, used it several times on my first Minis tappet cover, it was never the same colour for more than a couple of months but this red was by far my favourite  Matches my water pump pulley and engine stay bar too.

I wanted to leave the fins raw, so masking was required. Rather than piss around with tape, the quickest solution is to simply use this:

Normal everyday grease, or anything similar that wipes off easily and doesn't allow paint to adhere to the surface. This is best applied by either fingertip, or preferably, a small modelling paintbrush for more intricate jobs, one of those days I wish I still had one... Anyway, I cracked on, and carefully applied a thin film of grease to each fin. After that, paint time:

That was the first coat. I did my best beforehand to remove any contaminants, dirt and old oil, but unfortunately the prepsol didn't quite get it all, so there is some reaction in the finish, luckily, its on the reverse side, which you never see as the carb and filter is in the way, plus the PCV line and choke cable rub on it anyway, so no biggy.

Three coats later, I had a nice blood red:

I didn't have any clear on hand, which sucks, but that can always be done later, if I feel the need. The motor was still warm, so I sat the cover back on the head and shut the bonnet for half an hour to help cure the paint, after that, came down with a rag, and wiped the grease and paint off the fins, doesn't look bad at all, will clean out the the crusty paint once the finish has finally cured so I dont wipe off my hard work. Lush colour I reckon:

Sometimes the simplest things make the biggest difference  Mightn't be to everyones taste, but i'm more than happy with it.

Emailed Lee at Minibitz, he has Falkens in stock

Even shipped from Auckland they work out $36 cheaper than the ones from Palmside... Fizzing at the bung now.

Will keep in mind (y) Although surely if Palmside have the only set left in the country, he wont have anything at all?

Wheel test fit today Looked awesome on the car, can't wait to get them fitted up properly.

If anyone has the hookups on tires, please, let me know! 145/70 or 165/60/12, no chinese crap though

Took a wheel down to be trial fitted today, with pretty tasty results 

Not a bad fit at all, I may not even need to run flares if I buy a camber kit for the front as the rears tuck by another 1/2", give or take. Pretty happy with that!

Biggest problem is sourcing tires, 145/70's are mostly cheap chinese shit off trademe and there are only 4 165/60's left in the country, and I cant afford them at the moment, and I sure as hell won't be paying nearly $400 for shipping from the UK for 4 tires! More than what they're worth. Falken NZ have no plans to get anymore in as theyre such an uncommon tyre and no one else makes anything in that size, Yokohama NZ are saying the same thing. Bit of a conundrum.

So looks like the 4EFTE swap is also an incredibly pricey option, so A-series it is

Progress being made finally, and them riiiiims

Wheels are here

So stoked Test fit this weekend to determine what flares I need, procure tires, sell existing flares, procure correct size, fit, win.

Wheels are on their way from Auckland now, can't wait for the trial fit Speaking of wheels, I got sick of the shitty silver on mine, so today, this happened, hektik west auckz spec bae:

Back to the garage on Tuesday for its other engine mount (FINALLY) and clutch adjustment, as i'm having to bust out the Roadranger skills just to drive the bloody thing at the moment. Wobbly steering has been fixed by simply replacing a tyre AND, a new (old) motor could well be on the cards soon Not before I invest in Hi-Lo's, new cones, and either Bilstein or AVO low type shocks though

I might not be able to make it, clutch needs adjusting and it's slowly getting worse, rather not lunch a gearbox

Honestly? A mid mount big power SR20VET, spaceframe, 4WD, road legal Mini. Still on 13's for the Mini look, but lots of carbon panels, anti-lag, minimalist interior, just an utterly fucking mental toy, a rallycross car for the road, of sorts.

Alternatively, My mini with everything working and not needing repairs every week would be nice.

Looks like a good day!

Will do few of the guys on Ausmini saying it's perfect for what I want from the car and, despite the subframe being the trickiest part of the build, they're a much nicer fit than a Honda B series...

Glenn Lawrence by any chance?